The present invention relates generally to the field of embroidering and specifically to the use of a flat hooping device to ensure the proper location and alignment of an article of clothing in an embroidery machine.
Embroidery is an attractive and popular method of decorating articles of clothing. It is also an effective and much used method of advertising. The popularity of embroidery and the need to embroider large numbers of garments in a short length of time has spawned the invention of machines able to embroider a plurality of garments at one time.
In like manner to hand embroidery, hoops are used to secure a garment beneath the sewing heads of an embroidery machine. The instant invention is drawn to the use of what are called flat hoops. In the field of embroidery, the term flat refers to the configuration of the garment or other workpiece to be embroidered. Flat hoops are used with the relatively flat support members of garments such as the back or front of jackets, shirts, or the like. Flat hoops may be comprised of a larger and a smaller section of a hollow cylinder, though the hoops do not necessarily have to be circular. The larger hoop is called the female hoop member and is sized so as to frictionally receive in its inner diameter the smaller hoop, which is called the male hoop member. The hoops are used to secure and to stretch a piece of fabric or a portion of a garment that is to be embroidered. As is well known, the portion of the garment to be embroidered is placed between the male and female hoop members. Once the portion of the garment to be embroidered is properly framed by the hoop members, the male hoop member is seated within the female hoop member, thereby catching a portion of the garment to be embroidered between the inner diameter of the female hoop member and the outer diameter of the male hoop member. The garment is retained between the hoop members by the friction fit of the hoop members, the magnitude of the friction force being enhanced by the added thickness of the garment caught therebetween.
It is the practice of the embroidering industry to provide attachment means upon one of the hoop members so as to permit the hoop members and the garment secured therebetween, to be secured to the embroidery machine for the embroidery operation. With flat hoops the female hoop member is generally the hoop member that is provided with the attachment means. The attachment means on the female hoop member permit a ganged embroidery machine to embroider a number of garments at one time rather than a single garment.
However, problems exists in the use of flat hoops. Because the methods and devices heretofore used for positioning a garment between the male and female hoop members have not been sufficiently accurate or precise, the number of flawed garments turned out by embroidery machines has been high. Quite often a garment is improperly secured between the male and female hoop members, resulting in the embroidery being in the wrong position or in being misaligned or skewed. As embroidery is for all intents and purposes permanent, each flawed garment represents a loss to the manufacturer.
Another problem that exists in the process of using flat hoops in the embroidery process is the amount of time necessary to properly secure a garment between male and female hoop members. It is difficult and very time consuming to measure by hand the proper positioning and alignment for a hoop on a garment. What is more, when measuring by hand it is very easy to make a mistake. Placing the garment between the hoops by sight is much faster, but results in far more mistakes and incurred cost. The problem with many of the devices of the prior art is that they incorporate far too many steps that are carried out by hand measurement or by sight alone. Not only does using the hooping devices of the prior art require too much time, but there is also a higher risk of error.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,430, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, these problems were addressed in the context of a tubular hooping device. The present invention utilizes a number of the principles of my previous invention but differs significantly from my previous invention in that flat hoops are not interchangeable with tubular hoops. Tubular hoops, because of the type of garment with which they are used, have attachment means affixed to, or incorporated therein, the male hoop members, whereas with flat hoops, the attachment means are associated with the female hoop members. The structure of my previous invention will not function with the flat hoops that are the object of my present invention.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a device that will permit a user to accurately locate a predetermined portion of a garment between a male hoop member and a female hoop member.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device that permits a user to precisely repeat the procedure of accurately locating a predetermined portion of a garment between a male hoop member and a female hoop member.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device that will retain a portion of backing material in a predetermined location so as to ensure that the backing material will be secured with the garment between the male and female hoop members.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device that will ensure that the male and female hoop members are mated so as to minimize the potential for the garment or hoop members to interfere with the sewing heads of an embroidery machine.
A final object of this invention is to provide a device and method for accurately and precisely aligning garments over a female hoop member so that a predetermined portion of the garment may be secured between the male and female hoop members for embroidering.